


Strawberries and Sunshine

by Madzie



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble, F/M, I love Zay, unrequited feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 13:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7846156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madzie/pseuds/Madzie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Zay laid eyes on her, Maya Hart was all golden locks, and strawberry fields, and smiles so bright that people practically orbited around her just to feel the shine fall onto them—Maya Hart was the Exact kind of girl that guys like Zay Babineaux didn’t even think of talking to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strawberries and Sunshine

“SO….?” Zay flops back onto his messy sheets, the video camera catching the panoramic view of the baseball trophies, and ballet ribbons that aline his wall.

“So what?” Luke asks bemusedly, running a hand through his bronze hair.

“So…Man you’ve told me about all the big buildings, and subway and all that—But what about the ladies in the Big Apple,” Zay’s big eyes crinkle in excitement. “Are they as pretty, and stuck up as the movies?”

“Noooo,” Luke huffs out in laughter. “Not even close.”

“Oh? Well there goes all my fantasies….”

“Trust me it’s a lot better,” Lucas assures. 

“Really?” Zay perks up with a craning to his dark brows. “So Has Lukey boy found himself a high class gal?”

A slight flush creeps onto his closest friends cheeks, and his fingers begin to twitch, (A tell tale sign to whenever he’s nervous about something.) “Well there’s this really pretty brunette, Riley…And she’s kind of amazing. Trust me Zay she’s like an actual princess come to life.”

“Ew, I’m getting Vanessa flashbacks.” Zay emphasizes his point with a shutter.

“Well subtract the Queen Bee complex,” Lucas amends. “And then there’s her best friend, Maya.”

“Maya?” Zay repeats, easily catching the subtle tightening of Lucas’s voice, and the way his green eyes shone with something a little more curious.

“You’d love Maya Zay, she’s a beautiful blonde with a real big mouth and even bigger personality….She’s kind of the exact opposite of Riley, but just as compassionate and caring.”

Zay smiles down at the suddenly lost in thought Lucas, “They sound like quite the duo.” 

“They really are.”

 

***

 

Zay and Lucas are the best of friends, they have been since pre-Kay. They were there for each other’s first visit by the tooth fairy, their first Mutton Bustin competition, and just about everything in between. 

Zay and Lucas knew each other inside and out.

So Zay supposes he really shouldn't have been surprised when he met the infamous duo, that Lucas’s words rang true.

“You’d loveMaya.” 

The first time Zay laid eyes on her, Maya Hart was all golden locks, and strawberry fields, and smiles so bright that people practically orbited around her just to feel the shine fall onto them—Maya Hart was the Exact kind of girl that guys like Zay Babineaux didn’t even think of talking to.

But then she beamed her ray of light onto him, without his even having to ask, it was a small, sparing smile, but it lead to her being the first person in the group, (aside from Lucas,) to actually have a conversation with Zay.

And it made him understand why Lucas had sounded so enthralled by Maya Hart.

 

***

 

Throughout the winding weeks of their eighth grade year, he saw Maya at her most desperate, and wildest, and when she was in most need of a friend—And sometimes Zay would convince himself that maybe he could be that for her.

But of course, that was a foolish prospect.

Because girls as pretty, and confident, and talented as Maya Hart had a whole slew of people waiting to help her with open arms. 

Because at her most desperate, Farkle Minkus was there with a shoulder to lean on.

because at her wildest, she was yelling at Lucas Friar in front of a campfire.

And because whenever she was in most need of a friend, she’d find her place next the ray of kindness that was Riley Matthews.

And honestly, Zay was fine with that. He was fine sanding in the side lines, as long as Maya stayed happy.

 

***

 

One day, Zay found out that the mighty Maya Hart was afraid of Ballerinas, and it practically sang with the opening he was waiting for.

So with a tentative smile, he offered to teach her, and crush that fear as strongly as he new she could.

Zay thinks it was during those lessons—Her untamed locks pulled back in a tight bun, how her sweet perfume glistened off her body, and the way she would leap in joy once she perfected a particular twirl, or leap—Is when the simple friendship became more than merely affection on his part.

 

***

 

Slowly but surely, Zay moves from skirting around the enigma that is Maya Hart, and starts to assimilate into the world she has crafted for herself.

They toss each other mischievous smirks, and complete one another’s jokes—And they even come up with a handshake.

It’s a stupid, silly mess of hands waving, and hips swaying…But it’s there’s, and Zay takes comfort in finding that he’s forged his own little corner in her glimmering gaze.

 

***

 

But of course, it doesn’t last.

 

Zay finds himself on the sidelines—once again—When Riley and just about everyone else has convinced her that she’s lost her way. That Maya really didn’t know who she was.

And Zay just anted to scream that even though he’s known her for the shortest amount of time, it’s like he’s the one who knows her the best, because this Maa, the real Maya, has just allowed herself to hope a little…And what exactly is wrong with that?

 

***

 

Zay is sitting on the couch of the cabin when it all pans out—The ridiculous triangle portrayed as the melodrama that it so obviously is.

Lucas is hurting her, and Zay knows it…He’s known it for a while, because for some reason Maya Hart is under the impression that she isn’t worth much of a second glance. (And honestly, Lucas’s reaction to the mountain boy really isn’t helping.)

So Zay goes in search of Maya, with the mission of making her understand that in no uncertain terms, she is more than all the riches of the seven seas combined…But then he finds her talking with the suave Josh Matthews, (Their hands interlocked,) and he accepts yet again that he’ll never be that person for her.

 

***

 

All said and done, Zay still has his apprehensions about the choice Lucas made…Because Zay and Lucas know each other inside out, and Zay is pretty secure in the conviction that he would have bet a million dollars that Lucas would have chosen Maya after all. (My god how could he not?)

But Zay opts to continue staying quite, because their odd clan of six has gone back to what was more or less normal in their minds.

The brainiacs hung onto each other’s every word.

Riley and Maya still love one another more than anything else in the universe. (Including Pluto.)

And Zay and Lucas still know each other inside and out…Well Zay pretends as much at least, because he refuses to tell his best friend since Pre-Kay that he has begun harboring a crush for the girl Lucas ever so obviously still has lingering feelings for. 

And especially not how they seem just to be intensifying with each passing day.

No, Zay refuses to do that. He’d rather slink back into the shadows than to create such a rift between he and his best friend.

 

***

 

Zay thinks he’s doing well in obscuring his real emotions for the blonde beauty…But then after a day filled with hearing Riley complaining about some stupid kid’s toy, and how the suave, college student, Josh Matthews, dashes back to a bunch of freshmen, and acting as if he and Maya could really be something, Zay just couldn’t stay tight lipped for any longer.

How could he?

because how dare Josh Matthews try to temper down her light. How dare Josh Matthews try to let Maya Hart dilute herself in figments of the future, that he let’s her miss out on the actual joy of the present day.

And he tells him as much.

“You’re right,” the smug bastard has the humility to admit. “What did you have in mind?”

Zay isn’t quite sure what e ants to say, but then she shuffles closer. 

“Yeah, what did you have in mind?” 

Her voice is as soft as a shower of rain pitter-patting on asphalt…But it’s enough.

It’s enough to bring a flood of memories of her mischievous smiles, and strawberry perfume, and the way she was a whirlwind of kinetic energy whenever she was excited—As if she needed to release her self of the pent up emotion or else she’d burst into sunshine, and laughter.)

And Zay realizes just how much he missed his corner in her glimmering gaze.

So he promises her that as long as she’d want it, he’d always be there for her, on the other side of a movie theatre seat to help in ebbing away any remnants of feelings she retains from the yet unresolved relationship between she and Lucas—Or just about anything else.

She hugs him, and Zay’s nostrils fill up with strawberries and sunshine.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so so so much for reading<3  
> Pleaseeeee let me know what you thought!!  
> Comments are legit my lifeline!!  
> talk to me on tumblr as » MaleczAngel


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